5 tips for selling books at the back of the room
Pearl Jam, is a band that is renowned for their amazing ability to sell ‘at the back of the room’. They developed a process to counteract the bootleggers of the day. Pearl Jam organised for their concerts to be recorded and pressed on to a CD by the end of each show. Fans could buy the recording as they walked out the door.
People want to relive great experiences, and Pearl Jam saw how easily they could leverage from that desire and fulfil it for their fans (customers).
Similarly, when you see a fantastic speaker, often you will want to purchase some of their products. Books (like CDs) are a simple product to sell to excited customers.
Here are five tips to assist with smooth processing of sales at the back of the room:
- Helpers – these could be paid assistants or volunteers, who will co-ordinate the sales of your book and other programs. They should be easily identifiable by the customer. This could be the clothing the helpers wear, or by their badges. Also, you will deliberately point them out during your speech, or keynote, so that people know where to go.
- Table and banner – It is important to direct people to a central location for the processing of payments and collection of books. A table set out with the books and a banner to assist people to clearly see where they need to go to is good for customers to see what else you have on offer, as well as, smoother processes of purchases.
- Payment system – whether this is the PayPal portable device, mobile EFTPOS or a system that you have or your tablet that the helpers can use, this needs to be an easy system for quick payment by the customers.
- Flyers – this could be promoting the next book throughout and doing pre-orders. It could also be advertising bulk sales; for example, buy two books, get three.
- Bags with your brand on them – If it is good enough for retail shops, it is good enough for you. What better way to continue to display your brand than a branded bag; this can be as simple as a sticker on the paper bag (with your brand on it) then others can be reminded about purchasing products from you.
If you are interested in more tips, or how I may be able to assist you, with back of the room sales, or want to tell me about your successes, or failures, from your back of the room sales please email me direct at dyan@dyanburgess.com.
